🍄 Fungi Fat Replacer

EXCLUSIVE: 14 FoodTech Investors reveal which 40 solutions they're looking for at the HackSummit

May 24, 2024

Which technologies are FoodTech investors looking to back next?

While we don’t have a crystal ball (although that would be rather handy), we might just have the next best thing. We spoke to 14 FoodTech Investors to hear which solutions they’re on the look out for at the HackSummit.

If you’ve got the solution, why not head on over to Lausanne this June 13-14 and meet with them IRL (+100s more VCs, angels, CVCs and LPs).

This week in FoodTech:

🥑 Ripe n Ready: AI-based avocado scanners
🍾 Gin bottles: 94% recycled paperboard
🍣 Hybrid Tuna: Bluefin tuna sashimi

The Digest

📉 What’s down? Target is lowering its prices on around 5,000 frequently shopped items, to support consumers feeling the pinch on their budgets.

🔬 Researchers at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed AkkMore™, a novel fungus-based fat replacer which they say is effective in preventing obesity and metabolic diseases, enhances gut health, modulates immune response and relieves anxiety.

🇸🇬 ScaleUp Bio secured a food manufacturing licence from the Singapore Food Agency for its commercial pilot production facility for novel proteins in the city-state.

🇪🇪 Estonia is to hold its first-ever public novel food tasting thanks to the country’s governmental innovation lab, Accelerate Estonia, in collaboration with local startups ÄIO and Gelatex. Take a look.

🎥 The Cannes Film Festival is banning beef from its menus in a bid to reduce the event’s carbon footprint.

👀 Good Reads:

New in Funding

Peruvian Veef

💸 California-based Ohalo came out of stealth armed with $100 million in funding for its ‘boosted breeding’ technology, which ensures the progeny of two plants will receive their parents’ entire genome, a potential game changer in the crop breeding world.

🍄 Finnish startup Enifer raised €24 million to build a commercial-scale facility for its versatile Pekilo mycoprotein, which it expects to commercialise in 2026 following EU novel food approval. Here’s what it will be used for.

⌛️ Nory, based in Dublin and London, secured $16 million Series A funding. Its AI-powered operating system for hospitality businesses is designed to improve efficiency by centralising key operational data and offering venue demand predictions by the hour.

🇱🇹 Lithuanian startup PIXEVIA raised €15 million for its technology platform, which is the first to provide real-time receipts in AI-driven stores, alongside an app-free, tap-in/tap-out shopper experience.

🧀 Danish vegan cheese startup FÆRM secured €1.3 million from BioInnovation Institute’s Venture House program to license its patented production method that mimics dairy fermentation.

👉 See all the latest funding rounds including plant-based products inspired by Latin American cuisine and SaaS for farm mapping.

Here’s who you’ll meet

In just over two weeks, 1,000 Climate Founders, Funds, Corporates, and Limited Partners will descend on the lakeside city of Lausanne for two days of deep networking at the HackSummit.

Head this way to see who you could meet this June 13-14th. Tickets are selling fast (less than 150 remaining) get yours today and save 20% with code COUNTDOWN20.

New in Startups

Credit: PoLoPo

🥔 PoLoPo, based in Israel, has filed for USDA approval of its molecular farming platform, which genetically engineers potatoes to produce egg proteins suitable for meat alternatives, desserts and snacks.

🇫🇷 France’s Vital Meat has filed for regulatory approval for its cultivated chicken in England and Scotland, and awaits the result of a process that should take 18-24 months.

🍣 Israeli cultivated seafood startup Wanda Fish unveiled its hybrid bluefin tuna belly sashimi, known for its buttery, tender characteristics, and is aiming to apply for regulatory approval next year.

🚗 Speedy Eats is set to debut its unattended drive-thru convenience store concept, through which users scan a QR code to verify their purchase via the Speedy Eats app while their items are retrieved by a gantry robotic picker system and delivered to the pickup window.

🎬 Good watch: How to revolutionise last mile logistics.

Plant Based

Credit: Shicken

🍗 SHICKEN debuted what it says is a “category first”: an allergen-free plant-based chicken made with locally-sourced ingredients.

🇳🇱 Dutch alt dairy producer Boermarke unveiled a new range of plant-based cheeses with added vitamins and 10% protein, made via a fermentation process to replicate dairy cheese’s taste and texture.

Closing Soon: NatureTech Challenge

We're on the look out for nature-first startups working on pollination, regenerative agriculture and these 5 other areas.

Apply today to pitch your solution on a global stage at the HackSummit, to an audience of leading VCs, CVCs and Angels, and the investor jury from Planet A Ventures, Superorganism, Serena, Raise and FoodLabs.

Big Food

Credit: Aldi

🛒 Aldi UK unveiled the world’s first supermarket own-brand paper gin bottle made from 94% recycled paperboard, lined with a food-grade pouch to contain the gin, and designed to be easy-to-carry, shatterproof, recyclable, and five times lighter than a standard glass bottle.

⚖️ Nestlé debuted Vital Pursuit, its first major US brand in nearly thirty years, designed to meet the needs of consumers taking GLP-1 medications or focusing on weight management.

🥐 Grupo Bimbo is partnering with Oobli to use the startup’s sweet proteins in its baked foods products.

🤝 A group of UK supermarkets are in discussions over joining what is understood to be the first “buying coalition” for Fairtrade products, which would see them working together to pay farmers a minimum price and a premium.

🍺 Diageo is spending over €100 million to decarbonise its historic St. James’ Gate production site in Dublin, where Guinness has been brewed for 264 years.

🥛 Dairy giant Fonterra announced plans to exit its consumer-facing business to “strengthen its commitments to developing high-value dairy ingredients”.

🥑 Genius or pointless? Jumbo Supermarkten launched in-store AI-based avocado scanners.

From the Community

Get hired in FoodTech

🥩 Good watch: 3 people replacing beef vs 1 person going vegan

💡 ICYMI: Meet our next 38 FoodHack Ambassadors soon to host a Meetup near you.

🙌 Join us at the next FoodHack Meetup in Basel and Istanbul.

🧳 Just for fun: How to poach someone for your startup’s next big hire

Until next time - Stay Hungry

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